The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

It’s ‘Protester,’ NOT ‘Protestor,’ Dammit!

Posted on | April 23, 2024 | No Comments

Why do you do this to me, Babylon Bee? For more than 20 years, going back to when I was an assistant national editor at The Washington Times, this has been one of my pet peeves. There is no such thing as a “protestor.” The correct word is protester. I can explain very clearly why this is so, and why allegedly “educated” people keep making this mistake.

See, you’re confusing two different (but related) words for the same thing. When choosing a noun to describe a bunch of commie students chanting pro-Hamas slogans, you can call it a “protest” or a “demonstration,” but these nouns come from different types of verbs, and therefore, they operate differently. Let me show you:

Verb = Educate.
Noun = Education.
Noun = Educator.

By the same principle of grammar:

Verb = Demonstrate.
Noun = Demonstration.
Noun = Demonstrator.

Do you see the principle I’m talking about? Now let me show you why the non-word “protestor” is wrong:

Verb = Protest.
Noun = Protest.
Noun = Protester.

They were having a protest at Columbia, not a protestation, and so the participants were protesters, not “protestors.” This non-word pisses me off every time I see it, like a split infinitive or a dangling participle. Learn to write the English language correctly, or get the hell out of the business.

You’re welcome.



 

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Category: Journalism

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